Donald Sterling has cancer; news reports say

The news that Clippers owner Donald Sterling has reportedly been battling prostate cancer for two years caught players and coaches by surprise late Thursday night.

The New York Post report was confirmed by ESPN. Neither outlet named the sources for its reporting.

Reports of Sterling's health first surfaced Thursday night in a report by the New York Post, but Clippers coach Doc Rivers and stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were caught off guard upon learning about it after their 100-99 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.

"Didn't know it until just now," Rivers said. "I don't have a reaction to that. I hope it's not true."

Said Griffin: "I honestly didn't know that. If that is true, my thoughts and prayers are with him. Nobody deserves to go through something like that."

A Clippers spokesmen confirmed Sterling is dealing with health issues, but said he was unaware to what extent.

So, too, are the players.

"Yeah, that is the first I've ever heard of that," Paul said. "And that is truly unfortunate."

Amid those reports, the league moved forward Thursday with NBA commsioner Adam Silver's multi-leveled punishment of Sterling for making racist comments during a taped conversation with his girlfriend.

Silver, who punished Sterling with a lifetime ban and a $2.5 million fine for the comments, is also seeking to force him to sell the Clippers, which would require the support of three-fourths of the league's owners in a vote.

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On Thursday, the owners' advisory/finance committee, made up of 10 owners, convened on a conference call to discuss the next steps in dealing with Sterling. Their decision was to move forward quickly.

"This afternoon the Advisory/Finance Committee met via conference call to discuss the process for termination of Donald T. Sterling's ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. "The Committee unanimously agreed to move forward as expeditiously as possible and will reconvene next week."

Rivers seemed pleased with the outcome after being informed shortly before his team took the floor against the Warriors.

Rivers, though, didn't offer much of a response.

"I mean, you're not surprised by that," he said. "That's good for them. I think there is a lot of work to be done in that area, and I'm just going to try to stay out of that area."

The tape was released last Friday and created an immediate firestorm that left outraged players considering severe action including potentially boycotting games -- and sponsors pulling out of relationships with the club.

The Clippers were moved to silently protest before and during Game 4 on Sunday and were contemplating more aggressive action if the NBA didn't react accordingly.

But Silver culled the anger by pouncing on Sterling with an unprecedented punishment, then urged owners to use their power to force Sterling to sell the team.

The league took a step in that direction Thursday, although it's unclear how Sterling's health issue will impact that quest moving forward.